The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the newest installment of the Lego animated movie franchise, taking place directly where the first film ended. After freeing themselves from Lord Business and his Taco Tuesday plan, Emmett (Chris Pratt) and the Master Builders find themselves in an apocalyptic war with Queen Waterva Wa-Nabi (Tiffany Haddish); five years later, after the Queen kidnaps his friends, Emmett must journey to the Systar System to save them, with the help of a somewhat familiar macho man of the stars.
When I first heard about The Lego Movie, my first instinct was to dismiss it as another cash-grab from Warner Bros, but it was the fact that it had Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Clone High) that made me keep some optimism, and it managed to become one of my favorite movies of that year. It was clever, had solid delivery, excellent animation techniques, and emotional themes about what it felt like growing up with legos as a kid vs an adult.
Since that film’s release, I’ve tried to be more open about movies that have either ludicrous plots or poor marketing, but it’s also led to the open gates for films like The Angry Birds Movie and The Emoji Movie; this includes the other Lego movies, which don’t seem to recapture what made that film work to begin with. With its sequel, this time directed by Mike Mitchell (Trolls, Shrek Forever After), it didn’t sound like there was going to be anyway they’d catch lightning in a bottle twice; luckily, with Lord and Miller still attached as writers and producers, it left a good sign that the movie was still going to have a good measure of quality in the writing. This movie heavily focuses on the themes of sibling rivalry and growing up, not only represented through the live action segments, but through Emmett’s story after the events of the first movie. He hasn’t necessarily matured from his experiences, and despite learning to be more open minded, he still has this carefree attitude that even characters like Lucy are getting sick of. Sometimes, everyone goes through that phase of what they perceive as being mature, and to address the tonal shift of life was fascinating.
Much like the previous films, The Lego Movie 2 has solid animation; similar to what The Peanuts Movie and Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse would do later on, The Lego Movie applied this intention cut of framerate, to give the CG animation more of a stop-motion feel, like we were actually watching someone play with Legos. In this installment, the animation does carry a little more detail, and some of the jokes manage to be a lot more snappier than the previous Lego movies. Moreso like the first movie, you also have these themes about growing up, as seen through the eyes of kids playing with Legos, and here it talks the theme of sibling rivalry.
A major element that’s hardly advertised is that the movie is a musical, but none of the songs were captivating in the way that “Everything is Awesome” was; they also felt forced, as if they were trying to force more music onto you, as opposed to letting it just settle in. It might have to do with Mike Mitchell being more of a crowd pleaser than Lord & Miller, who are more ambitious and take risks (hence, why they were fired from Solo). This might also come off as nitpicky, but after the first film’s release, this one loses some of its surprise and charm in places, such as them bringing back running jokes with supporting characters. That’s another thing: Unikitty, Benny the Astronaut, MetalBeard, and even Batman (who is essential to the plot), don’t have much else to do in this film. I get this is supposed to be more of Emmett’s story, but they could have easily cut most of their roles from the film; it’s a shame, because these are likable characters, played by likable actors, yet they felt unnecessary.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part doesn’t have much surprise to work with, but there is still a lot to get out of it, if you enjoyed the first movie. There is still some of the clever meta-humor, the animation is still spot on, and it goes further into the themes of growing up and sibling rivalries. This movie had me leaving the theatre with a smile, so if you’re able to, I’d say go out and catch this one with the kids, if they’ve already seen How to Train Your Dragon 3.
Rating: B+
